Tour the Stairs

Author: Matin Dlouhý & Christian Gjørret

new contest for indoor autonomous robots

Do you want some indoor challenge in the time before Christmas? Can your robot
climb the stairs? If yes then you already completed the first step towards
participation in our new competition Tour the Stairs! It is going to be part
of European Robotics Week in Prague by the end of November.

The second year of the contest „Tour the Stairs” will take place on Saturday
28th November 2015. The robots could climb the stairs up and down this year
to make it more interesting for last year participants. The location is the
same: NTK Galery in Prague, Dejvice. UPDATE: 7/1 —
minivideo

Do you want some indoor challenge in the time before Christmas? Can your robot
climb the stairs? If yes then you already completed the first step towards
participation in our new competition Tour the Stairs! It is going to be part
of European Robotics Week in Prague by the end of November.
UPDATE: 13/1 — Official video

Rules overview

The task is relatively easy — climb the stairs (since 2015 also climb down). Well, it is not that
trivial, because the robot has to be autonomous and there are two kinds of
stairway: straight and spiral. The contest will take place in turns on both
stairways (yeah, the Gallery visitors have to have some way to go up and down),
and the robot finishing on higher step wins. Note, that speed is not important
(there is 3 minutes time limit)

It was already mentioned that the contest will take place in Prague, Gallery
NTK in Dejvice, where you can come during the year. You can train there during
the festival (Wednesday to Friday, the contest will take place on Saturday).

There are standard restrictions for the robot: it must not be dangerous for the
people and the Gallery environment. It has to have big red emergency STOP.
Moreover the width is limited by 50cm (so two robots may fit on straight
stairway in the future) and length is limited by 1m.

Extra note, that the robot has to touch every step, i.e. it is not allowed to
jump several steps, for example.

Spiral

Note: expect couple centimeters tolerance — for example first step is
approximately 14.5cm hight. The color is in both cases black.

Motivation music

Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven

Richard Muller, Po schodoch

Homologation video

A homologation is part of „Tour the Stairs” contest. It is verification that
the robot is safe and that it is capable to climb at least one step (and gain
one point). There will be also many other activities in the Gallery and „a
little bit of stress” is expected so we highly recommend to record your own
„homologation video” before the contest. Simply show us that your robot can
climb one step. And that is it! This way it will automatically be listed in
competing robots.

Registration form

You can already register with following registration form. The dead line is 31st October 2015.